Relationships are complicated, even with a DSLR

The week of Valentine’s Day I learned a lot about relationships. For my camera, that is.

For the past two weeks, we have been studying our cameras and how to operate them properly. This is an area of study I’ve dabbled in for a number of years, but never really knew exactly what I was doing.

Through exploration and trial and a great deal error, I was able to play with dials and buttons and take the occasional decent photograph while the camera was set to Manual. Most of the time, I switched it back to one of the automatic settings out of frustrations.

But for the past 10 days, I’ve gotten up close and personal with my recently purchased, refurbished Canon T5i. And I’ve quickly developed more than a common interest as a result of my study.

Relationships are often complicated, and it is the relationship among the camera’s settings that I learned the most about this week-and-a-half.

The concept of reciprocity is one every student photographer (and adviser) should know. It sounds difficult, and young journalists may be quick to dismiss it as unnecessary when the camera can do most of the thinking by itself, but with a little experimentation, anyone can learn how to take a photograph with the proper exposure.

This is achieved through correctly figuring the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.

ISO is the sensitivity of the light sensor. Shutter speed controls the duration of light allowed into the camera. Aperture is the diameter of the lens opening.

It’s all about light. And math. Again.

Let’s say I want to take a photo with a shallow depth of field. In order top do that, I have to use an aperture that allows more light into the camera. In order to not overexpose the image, I have to increase the shutter speed to let less light in. The amount of stops I adjust the aperture, I must also adjust the shutter speed.

While I still have much to learn about using my camera, I feel as if I have taken a large step forward in understanding this concept. It seems like such a simple idea, but it is one that many people and student journalists may not understand. 

Several of the students on my newspaper and yearbook staffs have never taken any kind of photography class, and using our equipment (even in an automatic mode) is daunting for them. My hope is I can teach these students what I learned these past two weeks, and I can build their confidence using a DSLR camera.

For those on staff who have their own cameras, I hope they start to turn the dial to “M” and stop letting the camera do all the thinking.

We will be learning and experimenting together, with the hopes of improving our craft and not settling for mediocre photographs.

After all, moving forward is necessary for any good relationship.

Students to adviser: 'We are bored with the same old Catalyst'

S. Mark Davidson

Catalyst editors MacKenzie Glass and Lindsey Toth review story assignments with reporters Ben Morse and Maria Gershultz for February's issue of the student publication.

Teaching multimedia might make me a math person after all.

When I consider what I have learned by investigating the initial readings of the course, I know that my perception of what multimedia is has changed. Because I now understand that multimedia is not simply the retelling of a news story in different formats, I also realize that I will need to draw on synthesizing skills in order to present an audience with a quality, media-rich experience.

Integral to this revised definition is the idea that good stories are multi-faceted, and multimedia is not only a way to highlight unique aspects of a story, but it is also a medium to draw an audience that may not be attracted to a traditional print story. The story is told in parts, and the journalist must give a good deal of thought before covering a story.

According to Thoughts on Journalism, a blog by Mindy McAdams, the journalist must decide what story parts fit with each type of medium’s strengths. The goal for the journalist is for each of the story’s elements to compliment one another, and to avoid redundancy.

S. Mark Davidson

Photography editor Gillian Martin rolls an old

issue of The Catalyst as part of a team-building 

activity during the first week of school. The two
journalism staffs at Southview High School were
challenged to build a free-standing shelter from 
newspapers and masking tape without speaking.

Video must be short, informational, and show the subject in action. Audio must be high quality. Photographs must be impactful enough to replace parts of the text, set the mood for it, or tell a story without text. Graphics ultimately should be interactive, illustrate and deconstruct a complicated idea or process and be easy to understand. This requires the journalist to have a vision for all different aspects of the story, and be able to put them together in a non-linear way that is easy to navigate.

It seems daunting, but it does not have to be. Case-in-point: The Feather is considered one of the “best online high school newspapers” in the country and is featured on thetoptens.com. One of ways it includes multimedia is a simple audio interview with a source. This is a common method in providing readers with another facet of the story.

This is where the adviser can help the student journalist.

In my current position, multimedia journalism plays a very small role. My student publications are limited solely to print versions at this time–something I hope to rectify in the next three to five years. One of my goals is to expand to a news website that will allow my students to incorporate multimedia into the journalism curriculum.

In the future, I want my students to be able to create a news site that incorporates all aspects of media: photographs, audio, video, graphics and print in order to tell their stories. Not only will this give the student journalist a more real-world experience, but it will better suit the needs of today’s scholastic audience.

In order to provide this kind of experience, I hope to gain practical and easy-to-learn ideas. I want to become proficient with these mediums myself so I feel confident teaching them to my students. I want to be able to excite them with the possibilities. And I want to inspire them to pass along that sense of excitement to their audiences.

S. Mark Davidson

Meridian staff members Monet Cavanaugh, Cati Ide, Allie Hider, Sydney Davis, John Walasinski and Hannah Butler were the only team able to successfully build their newspaper tower. Butler is the yearbook editor, and the other students are on Team Magenta, one of the four teams that cover weekly news.